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LA Detective wrote:He should of been in AAA all along for a permanent fix. He needed to show that he could go 6+ starts or so in a row where he had complete command and know how to correct himself in game.

I agree, well said. Should have been in AAA from the start but maybe made the rotation because of Steve Johnson's injury. I think the key point you made was he needs to prove that he can correct himself over a prolonged period because that seems to be the biggest issue.

Old Sneakers wrote:Honestly, as frustrating as it is. It's not time to bail yet.

You're right, I overreacted to that hideous meltdown.

ofahn wrote:FWIW - get in your Delorean and go back to this date in 2012. Then swap McFarland's name for Miguel Gonzales. Just think about that for a minute.

EXACTLY. Not that he will be Gonzalez 2.0 but the key is don't sleep on him like most did on Gonzalez. For all of Arrieta and Britton's great stuff, they were both vastly outperformed by Gonzalez last year. Buck loves Mcfarland so I would have no problem with him being slotted into the rotation at some point if need be. I would definitely rather see him out there than Arrieta right now.

I'm looking forward to having Steve Johnson back. He and Mcfarland provide great versatiltiy and allow Arrieta, Britton, Gausman, and Bundy to remain in the minors until they are ready. Those four may have more talent and a higher ceiling but Steve Johnson and Mcfarland provide consistency which is good enough for a decent stretch of the season.

thezeroes wrote:You do know that 4 of those seven walks came in his first start of two innings when he had that bleeding blister??Since that start he has 11.2 innings with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts his ground ball rate for outs is 28 GO to ZERO fly-outs.

That's a great point and a perfect example of the importance of looking beyond stats in the minors sometimes. You don't always know what goes in during those games and sometimes pitchers are told to work on specific things that might not be most conducive to winning that particular game (ie throwing more offspeed pitches than they normally would).

The Oriole's website has Jurrjens, Garcia and Stinson as possible starters for the game on Wednesday. Looking at the stat lines on all three... I'd say they all seem pretty hittable at this point. Who do you want?

thezeroes wrote:You do know that 4 of those seven walks came in his first start of two innings when he had that bleeding blister??Since that start he has 11.2 innings with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts his ground ball rate for outs is 28 GO to ZERO fly-outs

Good catch. This one slipped by me but certainly changes my perspective on Britton being ready. Just like Jake A, I would prefer a longer string of success that might show a permanent fix but we might have no choice and Britton certainly has the ability to be a very good Starter.

I don't think any reasonable person is suggesting that we just give up on Arrietta, but I can see the FO thinking about an exit strategy. We just used his last option so next year we wont be able to send him down without waivers which he won't get through. If he appears to straighten himself out at AAA and a team makes us a good offer I can see them thinking HARD about doing it. Does anyone really want this to be another Daniel Cabrera story?

osforlife wrote:Jake Arrieta should have been in AAA the whole time. Hopefully, he pitches well in Norfolk, builds some trade value & confidence. We can always put him in the pen next year and he'd likely do fine.

He pitched six shutout innings tonight, but he needed 94 pitches to get there. That just doesn't cut it.